Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Canning tomatoes...

I don't know about any of you, but I have never 'canned' anything in my entire life...until now. I work for an herbal manufacturing company and one of our employee benefits is that we get fresh produce every summer. Our company has a 250 acre organic farm in which we grow herbs to manufacture and every year they have the farm help plant, maintain and harvest all the fresh vegatables that we could even imagine. We have had fresh corn, beets, zucchini, basil, parsley, all kinds of 'peppers, watermelons, cucumbers and tomatoes. And when I say tomatoes, I mean tomatoes. I have brought home over 4 boxes of tomatoes and my mom and I have 'canned' them. I remember her canning when I was very young, but I have never done it. I was a little bit intimated at the thought, but nonetheless, I set out to tackle learning how. I went over to my mom's house after church this past Sunday and we went to work.
It wasn't all that hard, it was just time consuming. I never knew that there were so many steps involved. Thankfully I was doing this with my mother, who knew what she was doing. It took use many hours to get them all done, but I have to say, when it was all over and I was loading up 'my stash' of the finished product, it felt really good to have accomplished this. My dad snapped this picture of me and my mom as we were bringing out the first completed jars of the tomatoes.

It is something I would do again. It was a wonderful afternoon with my parents. It was my mother handing down a 'way of life' that I had yet to encounter. I am 40 years old and I now know how to can. vegatables. It made us feel so domesticated. It made me want to 'put up' more vegatables and make preserves and jams. Oh Lord, what I have gotten myself into? Have a nice day, Cherri





4 comments:

Suzanne said...

Wow that is a lot of tomatoes to can. They look so good all bottled up and now you have a stash for whenever. Its so nice that your mum could help.

Cherri said...

Suzanne, you are too sweet to look at my blog. You bless me. It was fun doing that with my mom. We had a lot of fun. Have you ever canned before?

Anonymous said...

hello fellow blurker! Jk! that is a lot of tomatoes...great job on canning!

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Thanks for visiting my blog - yea for NC. CAn I just say that I am SO jealous...in a Godly sort of way:)...free produce? Love. That. and love that you and your mom spent that day together. What a wonderful generational legacy. :)